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EnchantedPlague

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
54
20
The 3D Touch app switcher gesture is probably one of my most used features of 3D Touch. Is it still removed in the GM release of iOS11? Thanks.
 

Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
5,313
5,100
Thank you. Will hold off from updating then.

Sure. Doesn’t look like it’s coming back either as Apple did state officially they removed it on purpose. While I never got the hang of it myself and don’t miss it, it seems that quite a few people do.
 

GreyOS

macrumors 68040
Apr 12, 2012
3,357
1,690
Out of interest, with the iPhone x direct app switching, do you have to 3D Touch before swiping or do you just do a normal swipe

To clarify I don’t mean the invoke app switcher gesture but the swipe action on the bottom to go directly to another app
 

Feenician

macrumors 603
Jun 13, 2016
5,313
5,100
Out of interest, with the iPhone x direct app switching, do you have to 3D Touch before swiping or do you just do a normal swipe

To clarify I don’t mean the invoke app switcher gesture but the swipe action on the bottom to go directly to another app

From the demo it looks like there’s a thin bar on the bottom you swipe, no 3d touch required.
 

ericgedi77

macrumors member
Aug 28, 2011
59
48
On older devices, like the 6S, is the only way to access the app switcher double clicking the home button?
 

emil234

macrumors newbie
Mar 29, 2017
18
1
I'm considering to stay right now with iOS 10 because of lack 3D Touch switcher built in iOS 11. I'm using this gesture everyday. Even on the android phones you have it like galaxy s7 with double tap on the left button you open last app. It looks that this function will be exclusively on iPhone X.
 
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Mrjynx

macrumors regular
Aug 31, 2006
134
176
Toronto
I’m furious about this, on ios11 gm now and betas since 4 and it’s still not there. I thought it was a bug.

I have to wipe and head back to 10 before they stop signing. That one feature outweighs the new features. One of the few things I used 3D Touch for and it was incredibly useful now that I’m mashing my physical home button every time I use the phone while unlocked.
 

davidcmc

macrumors 6502
Nov 5, 2009
318
55
There must be a solid reason for Apple to deliberately remove this feature.

Are they really trying to force us to use the Home Button? The 3D Touch app switcher gesture is not only practical, but also important for the 6S, which still has a mechanical Home Button.
 
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Radon87000

macrumors 604
Nov 29, 2013
7,777
6,255
There must be a solid reason for Apple to deliberately remove this feature.

Are they really trying to force us to use the Home Button? The 3D Touch app switcher gesture is not only practical, but also important for the 6S, which still has a mechanical Home Button.
It’s because they want the new iPhone X to have exclusive access to the gesture based app switcher and the lower models should not have it.
 
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FelixII

macrumors regular
Feb 22, 2013
161
65
Germany
There must be a solid reason for Apple to deliberately remove this feature.

Are they really trying to force us to use the Home Button? The 3D Touch app switcher gesture is not only practical, but also important for the 6S, which still has a mechanical Home Button.

My guess is that this gesture didn't work reliably on the new iPhone X (because the edge is so thin) and therefore they removed it on iOS as a whole for consistency reasons. Of course it also gives fans of this feature another reason to upgrade to the new iPhone, so there may be more to it.
 
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willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Oct 31, 2009
10,314
8,198
Here(-ish)
I never used it, as I could never get it to behave properly or reliably, so I won’t miss it, but if others found it useful, I’m not sure why Apple would feel compelled to remove it.
 
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davidcmc

macrumors 6502
Nov 5, 2009
318
55
My guess is that this gesture didn't work reliably on the new iPhone X (because the edge is so thin) and therefore they removed it on iOS as a whole for consistency reasons. Of course it also gives fans of this feature another reason to upgrade to the new iPhone, so there may be more to it.

The fact that iPhone X has exclusive gestures points to a lack of consistency by itself.

It's an absurd that Apple removed this feature and gave nothing in exchange.
 

stooovie

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2010
836
314
I would be fine if Apple removed this for sake of consistency, but that is clearly not the case as the gestures on X are completely different than on any other model. It's a bit weird. But Apple is known to reverse their decisions (remember when they flip-flopped on using the lock switch to either use it as a mute or orientation lock on the original iPad?), so the best we can do is to file feedback.
 

Dario69

macrumors member
Sep 11, 2017
75
90
I would be fine if Apple removed this for sake of consistency, but that is clearly not the case as the gestures on X are completely different than on any other model. It's a bit weird. But Apple is known to reverse their decisions (remember when they flip-flopped on using the lock switch to either use it as a mute or orientation lock on the original iPad?), so the best we can do is to file feedback.

Good point. I should do that as well. I don’t mind double clicking on the 7 with the haptic home button to get the app list for reason I just hate using that feature on the 6s Plus. I guess I hate that old style home button now after using the 7. I tend to use 3D Touch to bring that list up on the older devices now or did until iOS 11 changed things. Home button lag isn’t an issue for me like some others but this omission is.
 

GreyOS

macrumors 68040
Apr 12, 2012
3,357
1,690
My guess is that this gesture didn't work reliably on the new iPhone X (because the edge is so thin) and therefore they removed it on iOS as a whole for consistency reasons. Of course it also gives fans of this feature another reason to upgrade to the new iPhone, so there may be more to it.
Lol the side edge is no thinner on the X than previous models.
 

GrumpyTrucker

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2014
635
273
The 3D Touch access of the app switcher was probably my only real usage of 3D Touch. Not happy it’s gone and all I’m left with is buggering about double clicking the home button again. Can’t really see why the 6S / Plus can’t have the same up swipe gesture to access it as the X and the iPad. Oh, wait, it’s so I’ll buy a brand new phone isn’t it?
 
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FelixII

macrumors regular
Feb 22, 2013
161
65
Germany
Lol the side edge is no thinner on the X than previous models.

You are right. But I still think that it was removed for consistency reasons due to the iPhone X. Apple doesn't want to have two gestures with the same functionality on their new flagship device. So in order to "unify the experience" they removed it from all other devices as well.

I used this feature a lot and would love to get it back. But I also got used to the double tap gesture in the meantime.
 
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GreyOS

macrumors 68040
Apr 12, 2012
3,357
1,690
You are right. But I still think that it was removed for consistency reasons due to the iPhone X. Apple doesn't want to have two gestures with the same functionality on their new flagship device. So in order to "unify the experience" they removed it from all other devices as well.

I used this feature a lot and would love to get it back. But I also got used to the double tap gesture in the meantime.
Yes that’s more likely an explanation than your first

However, they were happy to have inconsistency across devices in the case of control centre access - there are now two opposite gestures across prev and X gen iPhones. So hmmm...
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,207
11,677
The fact that iPhone X has exclusive gestures points to a lack of consistency by itself.

It's an absurd that Apple removed this feature and gave nothing in exchange.
Same for iTunes 12.7. And same for iTunes 12.6. Apple starts to... ugh I don’t want to continue ranting.
Regarding this feature tho, I can live with double tapping the home button cause I just launch the app I want through home anyway without much switching in between. Also spotlight search can hold up to 8 frequently used apps.
But, before people get hands on real iPhone x and use it extensively, we are yet to know the real reason why Apple removes that feature. iPhone 8 does not have the same problem tho.
 
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